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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: wind · tear · spring · shower · perch · stand · march · degree

  1. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  5. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  6. I can't ________________ this cold.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. degree — temperature
  3. march — music
  4. stand — on your feet
  5. stand — for spectators
  6. stand — to bear
  7. shower — to wash
  8. tear — from crying
  9. wind — moving air
  10. spring — of water
  11. march — the month
  12. wind — moving air
  13. tear — from crying
  14. spring — the season
  15. degree — from a university
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. shower — rain
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. tear — to rip
  21. degree — an amount
  22. perch — the fish
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. spring — a coil

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com